Spotlights & Special Events

Feature Films : Hell on Earth: The Films of Buddy Giovinazzo

A special tribute to one of the USA’s most unsettling independent voices, known for his haunting depictions of everyday horrors: poverty, addiction, violence and abandonment. Enormously powerful, honest and raw, the shattering work of filmmaker and novelist Buddy Giovinazzo has rarely been shown in this country. To right this wrong, Fantasia will be paying special tribute to the man with the International Premiere of his new feature, LIFE IS HOT IN CRACKTOWN, and a special screening of the filmmaker’s own 16mm answer print of his seldom-seen director’s cut of COMBAT SHOCK. Giovinazzo will be in town to host both screenings. CRACKTOWN, which stars Kerry Washington, Illeana Douglas, Brandon Routh, RZA and Lara Flynn Boyle, opened July 26 in the United States, albeit in a version that needed to be toned down before it could get into theatres. We will be screening Giovinazzo’s original cut, the first time the complete version will have been seen anywhere in the world.